Welcome

As head coach/chief instructor and founder of the Tokon Academy, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to our official website. The Tokon or Toukon (lit. fighting spirit) Academy is the home of both traditional martial artist and the contemporary professional mixed martial arts athlete.

At the academy we incorporate a mixture of Filipino Martial Arts (FMA), Muay Thai kickboxing, Karate-do, Judo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), Submission Wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) into our syllabus to ensure that all individuals benefit from cross training principles and are prepared to excel at all ranges. Training at the Tokon Academy is geared totally towards functionality at every range of combat with practices drawn from a whole plethora of eclectic arts and sports that bind effortlessly to one another.

Paradoxically, the paradigms in place from which learning occurs are split into two distinct parts to ensure that each individual can work towards a working conceptual framework of goals: arts and sports. Martial arts have developed ten-fold over the last few years. With the conception of mixed martial arts (MMA) the traditional (less functional) arts have literally had a rude awakening- and rightly so!

The phrase 'martial art' today encompasses a whole plethora of unnecessary patterns that could not be further removed from their original objective. However, the 'sports' that now make up MMA competition were themselves conventionalised from the once effective and traditional martial arts. The Tokon Academy recognises this and that training and indeed competing in full-contact events is not for everyone. Certain individuals, for one reason or another, enjoy training traditionally and harness training as a social vehicle to develop both moral and ethical dynamics. Nevertheless, in a time where many Dojo's/clubs/academies and associations are sacrificing the functionality of combat athletics for aesthetic appearance, instructors at the Tokon Academy concentrate firmly on teaching functional combat at all ranges.

The Tokon Academy was established in 1999 from very humble beginnings with literally four regulars training at Aldenham Sports Centre in Hertfordshire. Now, through the sports, practices, traditional martial arts practiced and its network of instructors; the academy has a number of UK based and worldwide affiliations to some of the worlds best organisations and martial arts instructors and in excess of 200 students training on a weekly basis.

Training at the Tokon Academy is always hard and taken extremely seriously, however, we always maintain a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. New members are important to us and are always made to feel at ease. So no matter what your age, level of fitness or level of experience, at the Tokon Academy there is a class that will benefit you as an individual. Our students currently range from total beginners training in Karate-do to those that thrive on developing skills at real-contact stickfighting events and from recreational Judo-ka to professional mixed martial arts fighters- what you choose is up to you!

It is hoped that this website not only provides ample advertising space for the work being conducted by the Tokon Academy and its students but also offers you, the reader, with an insight to training on a personal level so you too may improve your 'game' through utilising the many articles and multimedia paradigms herein. Hopefully any questions you may have with regards to beginning classes or continuing your training at our academy will be answered throughout the contents of this site. However, if there is anything you cannot find or any queries that you may have, then please do not hesitate to contact us directly.

I hope you enjoy your visit to our web site and that it encourages you to visit us in person.

David Webb
Head coach at the Tokon Academy